Roads in Leeds are becoming safer with fewer accidents and injuries, a recent report has highlighted.

The ‘Sites for Concern 2005 – 2009’ report, published by Leeds City Council, lists 71 junctions in the city which have had 15 or more injury accidents in the five year period, or four or more in 2009.

It is the shortest list of sites ever included in the Sites for Concern report – nine less than in 2009 and less than half the number recorded 10 years ago (154).

The improvements, which have been recorded across the city, are the result of work carried out by Leeds City Council’s road safety officers and highways engineers who have worked together to make known accident black spot junctions safer.

Councillor Richard Lewis, Leeds City Council executive member responsible for city development, said:
“Road safety officers and highways engineers are constantly working to improve the safety for everyone who uses the city’s roads and this report provides important information to help us concentrate our road safety schemes in areas where they are most needed.

“It is good to see this hard work is paying off – but there is still a lot of work to do and we will continue to work towards lowering accident and injury rates even further.

“However I do worry about the impact of government spending cuts that may prevent us making as much progress in future. There is no room for complacency when it comes to making our roads safer.”

The report will be used to give an overall picture of the injury accident situation at junctions throughout Leeds. It lists what schemes are proposed to improve the situation even further and will also be used to assess safety implications of future developments in the city.

Six junctions which have shown significant improvements in road safety are:
• Gildersome Roundabout (northern junction): There have been seventeen accidents in the two years since the completion of improvement works, compared with 32 in the two years before.
• Gildersome Roundabout (southern junction): Six accidents in the two years since completion of improvement works, compared with 20 in the two years before.
• Burley Road/Cardigan Road/Willow Road: There have been a total of six accidents in the two years since the Burley Road scheme was completed – compared with 14 in the two previous years.
• Weetwood roundabout: There were four accidents in the 18 months following re-marking of the roundabout, with nine in the 18 months before.
• Harehills Avenue/Spencer Place: The introduction of a junction plateau has reduced accidents from 10 in three years before to 3 in the subsequent 4 years.
• Harehills Lane/Gledhow Valley Road: A similar junction plateau has reduced accidents from 12 in three years, to 5 in the after period.
• Elland Road/Lowfields Road: Changes to the signing and lining have resulted in a reduction from five accidents in an 18 month period to one in the 18 months following.

All highway authorities have been told by the government to reduce fatal and serious accidents by 40 per cent and the number of children killed or seriously injured by 50 per cent by 2010. Leeds City Council has also committed to reducing fatal and serious pedestrian casualties by 50 per cent over the same period.

All of these targets have been met during 2009.

Lessons learned in making successful improvements to junctions can be transferred to others where the number of accidents and injuries could be reduced.